After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea the singer references in a recent docuseries that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and numerous performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
